[chants of “Kamala! Kamala! Kamala!”] Thank you guys. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you all. Thank you. Can we just give it up again for my husband? [cheers and applause]
It is so good to hear our president's voice. Joe, I know you're still on the call. And we've been talking every day. You probably, you guys heard it from Doug's voice—we love Joe and Jill. We really do. They truly are like family to us. [member of the crowd: So do we.] Everybody here does. [applause]
PRESIDENT BIDEN, on the phone: It’s mutual.
HARRIS, laughing: I knew you were still there! You're not going anywhere, Joe.
BIDEN: I'm watching you, kid. I'm watching you, kid. I love you.
HARRIS: I love you, Joe. Oh… [with hand on her heart] [applause]
So Joe, I'm going to recognize some of the electeds who are here and then I'm gonna get back to you. Hold on a second.
So let me do please acknowledge some extraordinary national leaders who are also dear friends both to the president and to me. Governor John Carney, where are you—there you are—and his wife. They are here. Senator Tom Carper, my former colleague and his wife is here. Chris Coons, my dear friend. Attorney General Kathy Jennings. The mayor is here. Purzycki, where are you—there. And the next United States senator from the great state of Delaware is here, Lisa Blunt Rochester. [applause and cheers throughout]
And I know I know everyone here has seen these elected leaders in this very campaign office on a regular basis and I know Joe is so thankful to them for their lifelong friendship, but I want to thank them also because you guys have really been carrying some heavy water from the first days of our campaign. So thank you all. This truly is a Delaware family. Thank you.
I want to thank Jen O’Malley Dillon—where is she? Jen? I'm going to talk about her in a minute. Julie Chavez Rodriguez. Sheila Nix. There you are. [applause and cheers throughout]
And the entire team that is here. I want to thank all of you, and those of you who are joining from offices across our nation.
So, Doug and I wanted to stop by today to thank everybody and to express just what we know to be true. You all have been working so hard. The people in this office have been working so hard. And you have given so much of yourselves—long days and nights, what you are sacrificing in terms of the time you could be spending with other friends and other family.
And you're giving yourselves to our country because you love our country and you love Joe and you love me, and we know that.
And so today, just right after Joe made his announcement, it was important for me to continue with his role of leadership in this office and like him who has said for many, many, many months and I say it today—thank you all so very much for what you are doing and what you will continue to do. So let's applaud the team. [applause]
And I know it's been a rollercoaster and we're all filled with so many mixed emotions about this. I just have to say—I love Joe Biden. I love Joe Biden and I know we all do. We have so many darn good reasons for loving Joe Biden. And I have full faith that this team, this team, will be the reason we win in November, you all who are here.
And as Julie always says, and I will quote the great Julie, “We are one team, one fight.” [cheers and applause] One team, one fight. And she's been an extraordinary campaign manager. She's going to continue in this role and see us to victory in November.
And we are all here because we love our country, right? And we believe in our foundational principles. We believe in freedom and opportunity and justice—not for some, but for all. [applause]
And so we have 106 days until Election Day, and in that time we have some hard work to do. And as J.O.D. always reminds us, we can do hard things. J.O.D. has been such an incredible leader of this team and that is why I have just asked her to run my campaign and she has accepted. [cheers and applause] And so over the next 106 days we are going to take our case to the American people and we are going to win. [cheers and applause] We are going to win.
And so now I'm getting back to you, Joe. I will tell you it has been one of the greatest honors of my life, truly, to serve as vice president to our president, Joe Biden. Joe's legacy of accomplishment just over…a lifetime, but just over the last three and a half years, is unmatched in modern history. In one term he has already surpassed the legacy of most presidents who served two terms in office. Think about it.
And I know everyone here in the campaign, we have, we know [laughter] but–if we don't know, we got a problem–but I'm going to repeat some for those who might be guests at the moment.
Joe got the COVID-19 pandemic under control. Remember those days? He has created more than 15 million new jobs. He brought together Republicans and Democrats and passed historic legislation.
And I'm going tell you I'm a firsthand witness to all this work. I would sit with Joe in the Oval Office while he would bring members of both sides to of the aisle and talk and listen and help them see what they may have in common and how we can actually work towards solutions.
And because of their confidence in Joe, these accomplishments occurred. Joe has stood up for democracy at home and he has stood up for democracy abroad and he has always stood up for what he believes is right.
And many of you may know, I first came to know Joe through his son, Beau. Beau and I worked together as state attorneys general. And back then, Beau would often tell me stories about his dad. And he would talk about the kind of father and the kind of man that Joe Biden is, and he would talk about the qualities of his father. And the qualities that Beau revered the most are the same qualities that I see every day in our president—his honesty, his integrity, his commitment to his faith and his family, his big big heart, and his deep love of our country.
And I don't need to tell you all, you know Joe's background, right? I mean, he grew up in a middle class family in Scranton, and he has never forgotten where he comes from.
And so again I am a firsthand witness from being with him in the Oval Office to The Situation Room and seeing him on the global stage with world leaders. President Joe Biden fights for the American people and we are deeply, deeply grateful for his service to our nation. [cheers and applause]
Joe, are you watching? You hear this clapping? Can you see it?
BIDEN: I'm watching. I'm watching.
HARRIS: I knew it. [cheers and applause, and shouts from the crowd to Biden]
BIDEN: You're the best, kid.
HARRIS: And let us be very clear—Joe is not done. Far from it. He knows there is still more work to do and our nation will continue to praise his bold and visionary leadership as president. Thank you, Joe.
BIDEN: Thank you.
HARRIS: And it is my great honor to have Joe's endorsement in this race. [applause]
BIDEN: You sure do.
HARRIS: And it is my intention to go out and earn this nomination and to win. [cheers and applause]
So in the days and weeks ahead, I together with you will do everything in my power to unite our Democratic Party, to unite our nation, and to win this election.
You know, as many of you know, before I was elected as vice president, before I was elected as United States senator, I was the elected attorney general, as I've mentioned, of California and before that I was a courtroom prosecutor. In those roles, I took on perpetrators of all kinds [laughter and cheers]—predators who abused women, fraudsters who ripped off consumers, cheaters who broke the rules for their own gain.
So hear me when I say—I know Donald Trump's type. [cheers and applause]
And in this campaign, I will proudly—I will proudly—put my record against his. [cheers and applause]
As a young prosecutor, when I was in the Alameda County District Attorney's Office in California, I specialized in cases involving sexual abuse. Donald Trump was found liable by a jury for committing sexual abuse.
As attorney general of California, I took on one of our country's largest for-profit colleges and put it out of business. Donald Trump ran a for-profit college, Trump University, that was forced to pay $25
million to the students it scammed.
As district attorney, to go after polluters, I created one of the first environmental justice units in our nation. Donald Trump stood in Mar a Lago and told Big Oil lobbyists he would do their bidding for a $1 billion campaign contribution.
During the foreclosure crisis, I took on the big Wall Street banks and won $20 billion for California families, holding those banks accountable for fraud. Donald Trump was just found guilty of 34 counts of fraud.
But make no mistake—all of that being said, this campaign is not just about us versus Donald Trump. There is more to this campaign than that.
Our campaign has always been about two different versions of what we see as the future of our country. Two different visions for the future of our country—one focused on the future, the other focused on the past.
Donald Trump wants to take our country backward to a time before many of our fellow Americans had full freedoms and rights.
But we believe in a brighter future that makes room for all Americans. We believe in a future where every person has the opportunity not just to get by but to get ahead.
We believe in a future where no child has to grow up in poverty; where every person can buy a home, start a family, and build wealth; and where every person has access to paid family leave and affordable child care. [cheers and applause] That's the future we see.
Together we fight to build a nation where every person has affordable health care, where every worker is paid fairly, and where every senior can retire with dignity.
All of this is to say, building up the middle class will be a defining goal of my presidency. [cheers and applause] Because we here know when our middle class is strong, America is strong.
And we know that's not the future Donald Trump is fighting for. He and his extreme Project 2025 will weaken the middle class and bring us backward. Please do note that.
Back to the failed trickle-down policies that gave huge tax breaks to billionaires and big corporations and made working families pay the cost.
Back to policies that put Social Security and Medicare on the chopping block.
Back to policies that treat health care as only a privilege for the wealthy instead of what we all know it should be, which is a right for every American.
America has tried these economic policies before. They do not lead to prosperity. They lead to inequity and economic injustice.
And we are not going back. We are not going back. You're not taking us back. [cheers and applause]
Our fight for the future is also a fight for freedom. Generations of Americans before us have led the fight for freedom, from our founders to our framers to the abolitionists and the suffragist to the Freedom Riders and farm workers.
And now I say, team, the baton is in our hands. We who believe in the sacred freedom to vote. We who are committed to fight to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act. [cheers and applause]
We who believe in the freedom to live safe from gun violence. And that's why we will work to pass universal background checks, red flag laws, and an assault weapons ban. [cheers and applause]
We who will fight for reproductive freedom, knowing if Trump gets the chance he will sign a national abortion ban to outlaw abortion in every single state. But we are not going to let that happen. [cheers and applause]
It is this team here that is going to help in this November, to elect a majority of members of the United States Congress who agree the government should not be telling a woman what to do with her body. [cheers and applause]
And when Congress passes a law to restore reproductive freedoms, as president of the United States I will sign it into law. [cheers and applause]
[From the crowd: We the people!] Indeed, we the people.
So ultimately to all the friends here, I say in this election we know we each face a question, what kind of country do we want to live in? A country of freedom, compassion and rule of law? Or a country of chaos, fear, and hate?
You all are here because you as leaders know we each, including our neighbors and our friends and our family, we each as Americans have the power to answer that question. That's the beauty of it. The power of the people. We each have the ability to answer that question.
So in the next 106 days, we have work to do. We have doors to knock on, we have people to talk to, we have phone calls to make, and we have an election to win. [cheers and applause]
So are you ready to get to work? [cheers and applause]
Do we believe in freedom? [cheers and applause]
Do we believe in opportunity? [cheers and applause]
Do we believe in the promise of America? [cheers and applause]
And are we willing to fight for it? [cheers and applause]
And when we fight…[Crowds yells, “We win!]
God bless you all and God bless the United States of America and Joe Biden.
Neither the Catt Center nor Iowa State University is affiliated with any individual in the Archives or any political party. Inclusion in the Archives is not an endorsement by the center or the university.